It’s hard to understand why there is such a housing crisis on campus. Why should freshmen be living in a lounge in Jogues while juniors live in Kostka/Claver? From the student perspective, this seems like it could have been easily avoided.
Here’s the plan: if Fairfield had let more juniors live off campus, then more students could have been living in the townhouses and apartments. Approximately 150 additional students volunteered to live off campus – so it’s not an issue that students don’t want to live off campus. Then, they could de-triple some freshmen and move them down to Kostka. It’s understandable that housing likes the way it has set up their “housing by years,” but maybe they should attempt to fix the housing crisis before they decide to keep one class all in the same area.
Too simple? It seems like it. It’s because Fairfield is not thinking as a student would. They think in terms of the money they accumulate. It’s true, students don’t feel it’s right to be paying $38,000 a year to be cramped in a triple – or a junior in the suites. I wish the people who make these decisions could live our lives for a day. Being a junior in the suites is like being rejected from society.
Fairfield offers townhouses and apartments so students can be more independent. Then they tell 150 juniors they can’t have that independence they’ve been craving for the past two years. Not only do you have to deal with the dorm life, but a third year of Barone eating is a little too much for anyone to handle. An occasional meal there would be fine, but to rely on the cafeteria and the overpriced Stag is another burden for juniors living in the suites.
Another question is why did Fairfield over-accept the class of 2008? Fairfield lost a lot of tuition money when the class of 2004 graduated. They made up for it by once again over-accepting. Is that really fair to students who go here? Housing, are you kidding? If I had to live in a triple freshman year with people I didn’t know, I’m not sure how long I would have stayed at Fairfield.
Is there a solution to all this housing madness? Maybe, but here’s something to think about. If Fairfield wasn’t spending $7 million to make a “Welcome Center” (which seems like it’s mainly going to be used for potential students and not current students) they could allow more students to live off campus and they could stop over admitting. The Jesuit mission states “Jesuit, Personal, Powerful.” Fairfield should really think about that personal aspect and try to make their current students happy to be here.
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